Page 631 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce website which counts GIC
(Government of Singapore Investment Corporation) as an investor, has

raised external funding in Singapore. However, market access to Indian
banks in Singapore has been a challenge.

Under CECA, India accords national treatment to Singaporean investors

in areas such as manufacturing of textiles, paper and paper products,
chemical products and construction development projects. Meanwhile,

Singapore gives national treatment to Indian investors on a negative list

basis with beer and stout, drawn steel products and chewing gum
excluded.

CECA allows investors to directly initiate arbitration against a state

without approaching its own government in case of a violation.

CECA recognises the strategic partnership in civil aviation and the

importance of air connectivity to support the expansion of tourism, trade
and investments between the two countries.

The agreement provides a platform for ensuring free movement of

professionals. Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) — negotiated
on the basis of CECA — recognise educational and professional

qualifications in services such as accounting and auditing, architecture,

medical, dental and nursing services.

As India and Singapore prepare to elevate their relations to a strategic

partnership based on trade and investment, CECA can be a model for
regional economic engagement between India and Southeast Asia.

Singapore is well-placed to encourage this wider engagement because it
is the centre of Southeast Asia’s regional value chains.

Singapore, along with many other East Asian countries, has achieved
spectacular levels of economic development over the past half-century.

Singapore’s strategy of development relied heavily on foreign direct
investment and international trade. The development strategy of post-
independent India focused on building self-reliance, especially in the areas of